Curriculum

Financial Accounting

This course is an accelerated introduction to the concepts and practices of accounting for finance professionals. It revolves around the dissection and comprehension of financial statements. The goal is to provide students with the necessary accounting foundation for subsequent finance courses, and to establish the necessary tools for an eventual estimation of price and risk. The course will begin by focusing on the development of a methodological framework and an integrated understanding of financial statements with an eye toward how distilling accounting information into economic information useful for economic decision-making. Students will be exposed to financial statements and their relationships, the differences between financial and operating assets and liabilities, profitability and efficiency metrics, and various measures of cash flow. The general taxonomy employed will be applicable to the US and international financial markets.

Financial Management

This course is designed to develop the financial skills and logical thought processes necessary to understand and discuss financial policy decisions in a global economy. Specific objectives include developing an understanding of the time value of money, using financial statements in decision-making, understanding the nature of financial markets, the cost of capital, valuation of stocks and bonds, management of short-term assets, short-term and long-term financing, lease financing, capital markets, multinational financial management, and special topics in financial management. The course also addresses the impact of legal, social, technological, and ethical considerations on efficient economic outcomes.

Modeling and Analytics

Modeling and Analytics is a rapidly growing field which requires an understanding of statistics/econometrics as well as an understanding of the unique nature of trading and investment. This course will provide students with applications and motivations for model-building in the world of modern finance. The course content is similar to that of a statistics course and will also be backed up by on-the-spot practical demonstration on an econometrics software package. Hence the material should be accessible for both students with strong quantitative backgrounds and those who do not have this background but are willing to put additional effort into the class material. This course will also focus on other research methods specifically aligned to corporate finance.

International Money & Banking

The financial ecosystem brings together key actors: banks, investors, borrowers, intermediaries, markets, governments, and regulatory bodies, both domestic and international. Together they form the financial infrastructure of the economy, which links two engines of economic growth: savings and investment. Oversight and regulation are essential to the efficiency of financial systems in increasing transparency and reliability of markets and their actors, mitigating risks, and preventing or reducing the impact of financial crises. This is the role of central banks around the world. International Money and Banking serves as an introduction to financial markets, their functions and main actors. It takes an institutional approach to monetary economics and illustrates different structures, practices, and policies that are shaping financial systems across the world.

International Capital Markets

This course builds from prior courses and provides an in-depth look at the structure and function of capital markets around the world. It will survey exchange mechanisms in place, profile classes of investors, and analyze the securities that comprise financing activities, with attention to both the operation of markets and asset pricing. It will feature markets for equity, debt, and foreign exchange markets, as well as various types of swaps, derivatives, and structured products. Emerging micro-finance markets will be included in the scope of the course.

Corporate Finance

This course expands upon the work undertaken in Financial Management with an emphasis on financial decision-making during times of uncertainty. The course addresses issues in capital structure, dividend policy, mergers and acquisitions, financial strategy, application of financial practices to non-corporate entities, ethics, and international finance. Through case discussions and text readings, this course will help students develop the knowledge, skills, critical-thinking abilities, and behaviors required of managers. Although the main focus of this course is on profit-seeking firms, much of what is learned has applicability for organizations in the not-for-profit and governmental sectors as well.

Financial Institutions Management

This course will give students an ability to understand and evaluate the inner- workings of financial institutions such as—among others—bank holding companies, securities firms, insurance companies, and thrift institutions. It will expose students to competition within the sector, regulatory developments, special risks faced by financial institutions, and how the risks are managed. The course will adopt a managerial perspective in addressing why and how financial institutions make the decisions they do and analytic perspective in evaluating financial statements in the sector and evaluating performance.

International Financial Management

International Finance aims to help you understand the factors that impact the value of any cross-border investment decision, and how value can be measured, protected and maximized when implemented in an international setting. Value creation through the acquisition of international assets is affected by multiple factors, such as macroeconomic conditions, exchange rate volatility, financing policy and asset allocation strategies. The course will examine how balance of payment conditions affect international flows and, consequently, exchange rates. It also covers different conditions used to forecast exchange rate movements in both the short- and long-term, portfolio theory and the optimal way to allocate investments in various financial assets. Because of any investment’s exposure to exchange rate volatility, derivative securities as hedging instruments are also covered, along with capital asset pricing (cost of capital) and capital budgeting in the context of multinational firms, and investing in emerging economies.

Behavioral Finance

This course goes beyond the rational corporate models used in financial decision-making and examines how non- financial factors such as people’s own cognitive, neurological, and unconscious processes may bias and unknowingly influence decisions made by financial managers. The basic theories and tenets of behavioral finance will be covered with applications to both corporate finance and investments. Students will learn to uncover and diagnose biases in themselves and others and evaluate their impact on financial decision-making.

Modern Investment Banking

This course will examine what investment bankers do: help firms obtain funds from capital markets, and offer them advice and expertise, especially in mergers and initial public offerings. This course
is designed to help students better understand the investment banking environment. Financial skills needed to ascertain organizations’ financing needs will be enhanced. Financial instruments and practices for meeting these needs in an ethical manner will be appraised. Other functions of investment banks— asset management, market-making, and proprietary trading—will be described and evaluated.

Financial Risk Management

The recent financial crisis provides ample evidence about the importance of risk management. Individuals and firms confront risk in nearly all decisions they make. The value that firms create by designing and marketing good products is at risk from a variety of sources; the bankruptcy of a key supplier, a sharp rise in the cost of financing, the destruction of an important asset, or a liability suit can quickly eliminate the value created by a firm. This course explores how firms assess and evaluate risk, the tools available to successfully manage risk, and real-world frictions that limit the amount of risk-sharing. Students will gain exposure to the financial instruments firms use to manage exposure to different kinds of risks and learn when and how to hedge against them.

Master of International Banking course descriptions

Core courses form the backbone of your Master of International Banking curriculum. You will study them throughout
modules A – C. These classes have been carefully
designed and sequenced to build broad exposure
to key aspects of banking—from
international accounting and investments, to risk management, to corporate finance.

Hult International Business School is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit educational organization registered in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC).